Category: Jumbo Cryptic

Solving time 13:13 Only a couple of minutes outside my 23×23 Jumbo record, and there were answers I felt I might have got quicker. So I wonder whether anyone set a PB with this… Across … Read more “Jumbo 695 – anyone’s quickest ever?”

Solving time: 34:14, two mistakes (40ac and 6dn). Super puzzle with some lovely definitions. My favourites were 15ac (‘leaving mark’ for EXIT WOUND), 33ac (‘Missing dope’ for UNINFORMED), 52ac (‘Devotional base’ for PRAYER MAT), 9dn … Read more “Jumbo 694 (Sat 21 Apr) – REMarkable, tREMendous, supREMe”

…will appear here – finally getting a round tuit at 12:30am on Tuesday! Solving time 28:09, although should have been a lot faster. There were a lot of 14- and 17-letter multi-word phrases interlocking in … Read more “Jumbo 693”

I recently got out of the habit of doing the Times Jumbo, and have never timed myself, but I’d be really surprised if I’ve ever done one as quickly as this – I don’t generally … Read more “Bank Holiday Jumbo 692 – Blowing my trumpet”

Solving time 20:18 I hadn’t noticed, when calling a previous Jumbo post “African Elephant”, that the other kind appears at 30D in this puzzle. A few tricky corners here – my copy has some crossing … Read more “Times Jumbo 691 – Asian elephant”

Solving time 19:05 Just under the 20 minute that seems to be my Jumbo par at the moment. Some clever stuff in here – long hidden words, and repeated words used for both anagram fodder … Read more “Jumbo 690 – African elephant?”

Solving time 19:59 Another late posting. Just scraped inside 20 minutes, so not a giveaway jumbo. Clues picked out are rather good as well as possibly tricky. Across 5 S(A MARK)AND – “a mark in … Read more “Jumbo 686”

Solving time: 16:38, one idiotic mistake This was probably the easiest Jumbo for some time (though I have missed a few recently); I raced through most of it before being held up by a few … Read more “Jumbo #681/27 Jan – Fluky”

Solving time: 42:38 Apologies for the second consecutive late Jumbo posting.  As you know the idea had been mooted to scrap them, but the consensus emerged to keep them going in a reduced format.  Consequently, … Read more “Jumbo 679/Jan 13th – the first “compact” Jumbo”

As there have been very few comments about these puzzles, I’ve decided that the (sometimes considerable) effort of writing blog entries about them isn’t really justified, and that we’ll stop writing about them. If there … Read more “Times Jumbo puzzles”